1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A thin film transistor formed over a flat plate such as a glass substrate is manufactured using amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon, as typically seen in a liquid crystal display device. A thin film transistor manufactured using amorphous silicon has low field-effect mobility, but such a transistor can be formed over a glass substrate with a larger area. On the other hand, a thin film transistor manufactured using crystalline silicon has high field-effect mobility, but a crystallization step such as laser annealing is necessary and such a transistor is not always suitable for a larger glass substrate.
In contrast, attention has been drawn on a technique in which a thin film transistor is manufactured using an oxide semiconductor and applied to an electronic device or an optical device. For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 each disclose a technique by which a thin film transistor is manufactured using zinc oxide or an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide semiconductor formed into an oxide semiconductor film and is used for a switching element or the like of an image display device.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2007-123861    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2007-96055